Disgraced ex-New York Times reporter Jayson Blair was sexually assaulted as a child, he claimed in a 1999 column written for his former college student newspaper.

The column, which was met with skepticism from former colleagues, discussed media coverage of rape.

“When it comes to the issue of how the news media should cover rape and other sexual crimes, I do not speak from the ivory tower of logic, because long before I ever picked up the pen, I was the victim of sexual assault,” wrote Blair in May 1999, just a month before going to work at the Times.

His guest column appeared in the University of Maryland’s student newspaper The Diamondback, where Blair once had been editor-in-chief. The column was spurred by Diamondback readers’ complaints of insensitivity in its coverage of a student’s rape.

Blair, 27, quit the Times on May 1 after being exposed as a plagiarist and a fraud. At the time, he said he was “struggling with recurring personal issues which have caused me great pain. I am now seeking appropriate counseling.”

A subsequent Times investigation found widespread examples of invented quotes, lies and plagiarism in his stories published since October – all of which were written months after some editors warned he was a problem.

In his Diamondback column, Blair used his allegedly personal experience to argue that media exposure of rape could be beneficial.

“My sexual assault was never reported to anyone – the police, the news media or any group outside of members of my family,” wrote Blair.

“I wonder, as I look back more than a decade later, whether our lack of coming forward prevented others from being protected from the person who assaulted me, someone who needed help.

“If the newspapers had written more about the profiles of potential rapists, would we have seen the signs and been able to prevent myself from being a victim?”

He concluded by saying “we as a people should hold open and honest dialogue about this horrible crime, where the stigmatizing silence adds to the pain of those of us who have survived.”

The column reveals neither Blair’s age at the time of the alleged assault, its circumstances, nor the identity of the assailant.

Two people who worked with Blair during his earlier tenure at The Diamondback said they were skeptical about the sex-assault claim when it first appeared, and that recent events have reinforced their long-held suspicions about his truthfulness.

“We never believed any of it happened,” said one former colleague. “We took everything he said with a grain of salt.”

Another ex-Diamondbacker said it was obvious Blair “was a habitual liar.”

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“My sexual assault was never reported to anyone – the police, the news media or any group outside of members of my family.” – Jayson Balir wrote in newspaper column at the University of Maryland